


Reminiscing

by JMount74



Category: Thunderbirds
Genre: Family Fluff, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-14
Updated: 2021-01-14
Packaged: 2021-03-12 13:08:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,947
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28760817
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JMount74/pseuds/JMount74
Summary: Virgil didn't even know he needed to talk about it. Good job he's got an older brother who knows him so well.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 16





	Reminiscing

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Gumnut](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gumnut/gifts).



> For @gumnut-logic, who asked for Virgil being looked after with a bit of Scott.

‘Virgil, we have a situation.’

He stopped playing immediately and made his way to the display. Folding his arms across his chest, he looked at his brother’s hologram. ‘What is it, John? Do you need me to call the others?’

‘No, no. You’ll be better on your own.’ This caused a raised eyebrow. What was going on? He seldom went on his own if his brothers were around, which they all were, so a solo mission for him alone was rare enough to have him concerned. ‘John?’ John rubbed the back of his neck. Virgil’s concern ramped up another notch. And another when John sighed before answering.

‘It’s Scott. He’s on the beach.’ Virgil didn’t need to hear any more. The thought that Scott was behaving out of character enough for John to feel that he needed to be told spoke volumes as to its’ urgency. He turned and rushed out of the villa. John counted to five before activating his comm. ‘He’s on his way, Scott.’ Scott’s hologram nodded. ‘FAB, John. Are you joining us?’ He nodded. ‘On my way now, see you soon.’

Scott hated indirectly lying to Virgil, but this was the only way he could think of, given the circumstances. Whether Virgil had been aware of it or not, both he and John had heard Alan ask Virgil about their dad. It may have been a few days ago, but they’d only returned to Earth yesterday, and he’d thought that they would need the time to decompress and unwind. So he sat and waited for his brother, hugging his knees and staring out over the ocean.

It didn’t take Virgil long to reach the remote section of beach Scott favoured when he was in a contemplative mood. Before he approached he took in the sight of Scott seated on the sand, hugging his knees and looking out to sea. Virgil wondered what had happened while they had been in space for Scott to be like this. No-one had said anything when he and Alan had got back yesterday. Well, there was only one way to find out.

He approached Scott from the side – everyone knew not to come at him from behind – and Scott turned his head to watch Virgil approach, a small smile on his face which his brother reciprocated. Virgil sat down on the sand, close enough to Scott that their shoulders were touching, and mirrored Scott’s position. And they sat in companionable silence for quite a while.

It was the sound of someone approaching that finally disturbed the silence. Virgil couldn’t help but stare, mouth open, as John and Gordon joined them, carrying the cooler between them. Virgil’s eyes narrowed, and he glared at John, who had the good grace to shrug one shoulder, and then Scott, who simply broke into a huge grin, one mirrored by Gordon.

‘You set me up,’ he said, pointing at John. John took a half bow. ‘If you remember correctly, Virgil, you heard me say Scott was on the beach and rushed off. I didn’t say anything.’ Virgil rolled his eyes. Technically he was right – and John knew it. Gordon and Scott disappeared towards the shore, where there was a suspicious amount of driftwood collected, and they set about building a fire.

A Tracy camp-out. They hadn’t done one in a while, and Virgil was touched that this effort seemed to be all for him. He then immediately felt guilty. How had he worried his brothers enough to warrant this? What had he done or said? Virgil racked his brains but couldn’t come up with anything. And there was one Tracy missing. Alan, teenager that he still was, had gone straight to bed (read stay up past 3am shooting zombies) and it would be doubtful they would see him before tomorrow. 

It didn’t take long for the seasoned wood to catch light in the expert hands of Gordon, and John shared the beer around, while seemingly from thin air Scott produced Graham crackers, chocolate and marshmallows. Alan was going to be in such a mood tomorrow when he found out! So Virgil did what any big brother would do (but Alan’s other three had not yet) and asked if he should go get him.

He was met with a resounding ‘no’ from all sides. Which puzzled Virgil and made him ask the earlier questions again. What on earth had he done to worry three of his brothers so much?

Although they chatted nonsense and unimportant stuff, no-one seemed willing to talk about anything serious. At least not until they were all on their second beers. And as expected, it was Scott who began the conversation, albeit in a roundabout fashion.

‘Tell us about the rescue, Virg. What was it like going up into space again?’ Virgil rolled his shoulders. So that was the way they were going to play it. He could play that game too. ‘Oh, you know, mission was fine. Space is fun and all that, but I’m much happier in the sky.’ Two of his brothers nodded, John – used to how his present brothers felt about space – merely rolled his eyes.

‘Good, good,’ Scott answered, and it couldn’t have been plainer that he was not listening at all. ‘Uncle Lee was there, we saw the colonists and their doing fine, and that wayward professor discovered alien life while we were there.’ He watched his big brother intently to see his reaction. ‘That’s just great, Virgil.’ Ok. What was going on?

‘Scott, did you even hear what I said?’ Scott nodded. Virgil raised an eyebrow and Scott parroted back: ‘Lee, colonists, aliens.’ He rolled his eyes. Of course Scott was paying attention, but the beating around the bush needed to stop.

‘Ok, what’s this really about? You did not plan all this just to hear about how my time on Mars went.’ Scott and John exchanged glances, but Gordon burst out laughing and proceeded to roll around in the sand. ‘I told you he’d work out something was up! You two have no subtle!’ Virgil couldn’t help but laugh at that – Gordon was right.

‘Ok, Ok,’ Scott said. ‘We just wanted some time with you. We heard what Alan asked you about Dad, and we thought maybe you’d appreciate some time, maybe we should talk about Dad more than we do, and that will help, not only Alan, but us too.’ For the second time that evening Virgil was left open mouthed and staring.

‘How did you know?’ he asked softly. Alan’s question had almost thrown him, they just didn’t talk about their Dad much at all, except when Scott wished he was more like him (couldn’t get more like him if he tried, but damn if Scott could see it) or when they had a decision to make and – invariably Scott – asked ‘what would Dad do’. And, yeah, it had been playing on his mind that his youngest brother couldn’t remember the small things and he wondered if that meant he had failed, they had failed Alan and Dad in some way.

Scott merely smiled back. He knew Virgil, sometimes better than Virgil knew himself. Which was fair, since the same was true in reverse. They all needed some time to digest this situation and decide how they could move forward.

‘I remember that shirt with the pink flamingos,’ Gordon started. ‘He wore it at every opportunity at home. I can’t remember where it came from, but he wore it a lot when the weather was good, even if it wasn’t that hot.’ They all hummed in agreement. 

‘He got it from Mom.’ Scott was staring out to sea again, a faraway and slightly sad look on his face. ‘She bought it as a joke because Dad said he’d always fancied those pink lawn flamingos and Mom flatly refused to have such tacky things out the front. She loved seeing him in that shirt almost as much as he enjoyed wearing it.’

They were quiet, listening to Scott reminisce. If he rarely spoke about Dad, Scott never spoke about Mom, no matter how long she’d been gone.

Scott shook himself and took a swig of his beer. Turning back to them, eyes glittering in the firelight, he carried on. ‘You mentioned his pancakes. They were the only things he could be trusted to cook without burning. Do you remember?’ Gordon shook his head, he only had a few more memories than Alan did. But both John and Virgil were nodding, big smiles on their faces. ‘Thick fluffy pancakes with strawberries and cream or if we were particularly lucky, maple syrup and bacon!’ John said, eyes wide and smile wider and licking his lips. They all fell about laughing.

‘And do you remember his aftershave? You could smell it down the hallway even when he hadn’t left his room!’ Virgil’s shoulders were heaving as he tried to control his laughter. ‘We never said anything as kids, I guess we’d grown up with the smell and thought nothing of it. It wasn’t until Scotty had a birthday party when you must have been, what seven?’ he asked, turning to Scott. He nodded. ‘Yeah, I remember now, Alfie Green made such a fuss about the smell, and we had no idea what he was talking about!’ There were giggles all round. ‘It wasn’t as bad as the time you got into their room and dropped Dad’s aftershave on the floor, Gordon!’ Gordon frowned. He had a vague memory of that – mostly some yelling.

‘I remember that time he took me swimming, got side-tracked by the news and rushed home to talk to Mom and left me behind,’ Gordon said, happy to have a memory to share. ‘Mom tore him down a strip and insisted he pick up pizza for everyone to make up for it. I came back with him,’ joined in Scott, ‘and when we got to the pool you hadn’t even noticed he’d gone!’

They talked through many more memories until the sun eventually disappeared fully, the stars came out and the beer ran dry. It was a most wonderful way to spend the evening, and Virgil felt more relaxed than he had for a long time. Eventually Gordon helped John back to the villa, saying their goodnights and leaving Scott and Virgil with the dying embers of the fire.

‘Thank you.’ He’d said it so quietly Scott wasn’t sure he’d actually heard the words. ‘I didn’t realise how much I needed that.’ Scott nodded. ‘I think we all needed it.’ There was a sad wistful quality to his brother’s voice, and Virgil scooted over the sand to be with him.

Scott swallowed. ‘Have I failed Dad? And Alan and Gordon too, by not talking like this with them, by not reminding them of how Dad was, and only thinking about Dad’s dream of International Rescue?’ Virgil put his arm around Scott and pulled him in close. ‘You’ve always done your best by Dad, he would be so proud of you. And if anything, John and I haven’t exactly been helpful in this area.’ It had never occurred to him that their youngest brothers would need reminding, their dad was so much larger than life to the three eldest.

‘We’ve had such a lovely evening reminiscing, what say we do the same again with Alan and share some of our memories?’ Scott nodded. ‘I’d like that. It will help keep him fresh for all of us.’

‘Come on, speaking of Alan, it’s time we followed his example and got some sleep.’ And so saying, Scott and Virgil headed back into the villa, both feeling better and lighter than they had for ages.

**Author's Note:**

> Slight spoiler for Life Signs


End file.
